Dean: From New York we first planned to head straight to Washington DC, but then decided to make a pit-stop in Philadelphia. There is a lot of history in Philadelphia as it was the original US capital until they decided it was too close to the sea and too much of an easy target for the British Navy - hence Washington DC being built from scratch. We checked out the museums etc which mainly concentrate on the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution (and the US Liberty Bell). All very interesting stuff.